


Mind Over Matter

by bluepulsebluepulse



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Bart Allen - Freeform, Bart Allen/Jaime Reyes - Freeform, Bluepulse, Fluff and Angst, It's a concept I haven't see done anywhere else?, Jaime Reyes - Freeform, M/M, So hopefully you like it, Speedbuggy, Swearing, There are other surprise DC cameos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-25
Updated: 2019-06-25
Packaged: 2020-05-19 10:44:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 13,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19355428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluepulsebluepulse/pseuds/bluepulsebluepulse
Summary: So I wrote this based on a concept I haven't actually yet seen so it may have been done before. But I think I am the first person to do it??? Maybe? Idk. Sorry if I am not lol. But yeh hope you enjoy it! Please feel free to comment and let me know what you think! I love hearing back from people!





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Barkour](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Barkour/gifts), [PaintingWithDarkness](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PaintingWithDarkness/gifts).



> Please note: Any internal dialogue (so when characters are speaking in their own mind) is italicized. So naturally all of Khaji Da's dialogue is in italics because only Jaime can hear him in his mind. Nobody else can hear him. And yeh there are times when either Bart or Jaime's thoughts are portrayed and those are also formatted with italics. It is hopefully clear who the thoughts belong to via the provided context.

“Hey Bart!” Barry greeted.

 

Bart was caught completely off guard by the presence of not only Barry, but Iris too when he looked up. He instinctively went to turn off his phone by pressing the power button but missed due to the sudden stress that was flowing through his veins. He started to drop the phone and fuddled around for a moment before catching it and aggressively mashing the power button to turn the phone off before his grandparents could see what he had been looking at.

 

“Whatcha doing?” Barry asked knowing the answer already but curious to see if Bart would be honest with him.

 

“Just going through old photos!” Bart replied with a wobbly voice. He knew his nervousness shone through.

 

_It’s amazing I was able to fool everyone here into thinking I was a tourist from the future when I first came here but now I can’t even act natural when I am browsing photos on my phone._

 

Bart had at least told part of the truth. The truth was that he had been looking at photographs of him and Jaime. He had been admiring Jaime’s features in each one. His sheek black hair, always messy but somehow tidy at the same time. His hot chocolate brown eyes that ironically filled Bart with a feeling of warmth whenever he drank them in. And Bart’s personal favorite feature... Jaime’s smile. It was rare that Jaime smiled. He was usually more serious than silly, which meant Bart had to savor and cherish every moment Jaime was smiling.

 

_Thank god for cameras!_

 

It was a shame Jaime didn’t smile more often. He had a model worthy smile. Bart could occasionally get Jaime to smile when he told a good joke or gave Jaime a nice compliment, but a lot of his jokes usually resulted in an eye roll which Bart still loved.

 

“Bart?” Iris broke the silence.

 

“Oh right sorry, I was somewhere else…” Bart mused.

 

“What can I do for you two?” he said before smiling slightly.

 

“Well…” Iris began before looking over at Barry who turned to look at her at exactly the same time.

 

Bart was impressed with the timing but noticed the nervous expression painted across both of their faces.

 

“Oh no. I’m about to be moded aren’t I?” Bart said fear bubbling in his voice.

 

“No! It’s not really like that.” Iris said laughing a bit putting both Barry and Bart at ease.

 

“How do we say this?” Barry asked looking at Iris.

 

“Say what?” Bart interjected.

 

“Well Bart. Barry and I... well we know you what you were doing on your phone. I mean, as you know, we are both well aware of your feelings for Jaime and have been for years. But you seem to be hung up on him still. We think it’s time you considered telling him.”

 

Bart was mortified at the thought of telling Jaime how he felt. He was also embarrassed they both knew he was just staring at photos of Jaime on his phone like a love sick character from a soap opera. He didn’t mind them both knowing about his feelings for Jaime but he was still embarrassed being caught in the act of actually crushing on Jaime.

 

“Ugh!” Bart groaned placing his hands over his eyes and flopping back on his bed that he had been sitting on.

 

“We weren’t sure if these feelings would pass. They were innocent enough when you first got here but you are much older now. You’re actually at an age where you could do something about it if you were serious enough.” Barry explained.

 

“I am not going to say anything!” Bart said a little bit of frustration leaking into his voice.

 

“That’s okay! You don’t have to. We just thought, if you didn’t give it a go, you might go through the rest of your life wondering. And we just don’t want you to have any regrets.” Iris added calmly.

 

“Noted.” Bart said hands still covering his eyes.

 

Iris took the opportunity to put her hand on Barry’s shoulder and gestured towards Bart’s door with her other hand. They both left to give Bart some space to process what they had just told him. Truth be told, they were both worried about the advice they had given because they were genuinely clueless as to how Jaime would react. But they both knew Bart would probably drive himself crazy if he didn’t act upon his feelings.

 

Back in Bart’s room, he was beginning to ponder their suggestion.

 

_I mean they have a point. My feelings haven’t changed in years and I don’t see that changing any time soon. If I say something, I might lose him. If I don’t, I’ll probably lose my sanity if I keep wondering about whether we could have been something._

 

Bart exhaled deeply but it didn’t fill him with any sense of relief. With every passing day, he found the weight of wondering about Jaime and whether he might return feelings for him becoming even heavier on his shoulders.

 

Jaime hadn’t given Bart any indications that he had feelings for him. But Bart was optimistic. He hoped that Jaime would be open to the possibility of dating. He just wanted Jaime to love him as much as he loved Jaime. It was that simple.

 

Bart didn’t want to tell Jaime quite yet though. He decided to probe the issue a bit more with Jaime himself before he did that.

 

Bart had actually made plans to see Jaime later that evening for one of their regular weekly catch-ups. They spent more time together than any of the other pairs of friends, and even some of the official couples that were on the team.

 

A few hours passed before Bart had his chance.

 

“So Jaime…” Bart began as they were both watching a movie in Jaime’s bedroom.

 

“Yes Bart?” Jaime said exasperated expecting yet another question about the movie that Bart would know the answer to if he simply spent less time talking during the movie.

 

“Are you dating anybody at the moment?” Bart managed to ask despite his stomach being tied up in more knots than he had in messy auburn hair.

 

Jaime was surprised by the non-movie related question.

 

“Nope.” he replied succinctly looking over at Bart to survey his face out of curiosity.

 

“Oh. That’s... interesting.” Bart holding on the last word.

 

“How so?” Jaime was now fully concentrating on Bart instead of the movie.

 

“Well… just... I don’t know? How is a guy like you not taken?” Bart laughed to try cover up his nerves.

 

Jaime laughed himself. He didn’t consider himself a catch so he was genuinely amused.

 

“I don’t want a girlfriend hermano. They are too much work.” Jaime said looking up at the ceiling as he chose his words carefully.

 

Bart was quite ecstatic to hear this. He hoped that meant Jaime wasn’t interested in girls at all.

 

_I am going to do it. I am going to tell him. Here goes nothing._

 

Bart took a deep breath and opened his mouth to speak.


	2. Chapter 2

“Umm Jaime.” Bart began.

 

“Yes Bart?” Jaime chuckled a bit at having said that twice within the same conversation.

 

Bart simmered in the sound of Jaime’s musical laugh. Bart reassured himself he had to do this as he hesitated. He knew if he didn’t he would just torture himself with his feelings for Jaime. At least if he got rejected he would hopefully get over his feelings for Jaime which would allow him to live pain free. Bart was starting to think more critically about his decision as he faltered on asking.

 

Bart took a deep breath again, his chest notably falling quite far.

 

Jaime leaned back a bit in fear of what was coming his way. The last time he had seen Bart take a breath that deep was just before Bart came clean and told him all about his awful destiny. Jaime actually didn’t realize it but he was beginning to sweat a bit at the mere thought that Bart was about to tell him something else terrible about his future.

 

“I have feelings for you.” Bart said holding his right hand on his left shoulder so his whole arm was crossing his chest. He wasn’t even consciously aware of his body language but he was trying to defend himself from whatever reaction Jaime was about to drop on him.

 

“Really?” Jaime said his eyes darting around the room as he tried to process the new information.

 

“Yeh.” Bart said shrinking in his spot.

 

“I didn’t know you were-” Jaime said before trailing off. He had no idea that Bart was interested in guys. The thought had never really occurred to him. He was deep in thought when he realized he should probably respond.

 

“Oh. Well I am flattered but-” Jaime began.

 

_Oh god! There’s a but. That can’t be good._

 

“I am flattered herm- Bart. I guess I just always have seen you as a friend. Nothing more.” Jaime said while fidgeting with the hairs on the back of his neck.

 

“Oh.” Bart felt crushed. He was really disappointed. Actually, he was devastated. Tears began to well in his eyes despite him trying his best to hold them back.

 

Jaime noticed and felt really sorry for Bart.

 

“But I still want to be best friends Bart! If that’s okay with you?” Jaime said as he unsurely placed a hand on Bart’s shoulder.

 

_Is this cruel? Touching him when he just told me he likes me?_

 

“Yeh.” Bart said still sounding disappointed.

 

“Bart. Please know it has nothing to do with you not being good enough or anything like that! You’re an awesome guy. The best guy I know actually. I’m just not interested in dudes.”

 

“Thanks I guess.” Bart mumbled. There was nothing that would cheer him up in this moment.

 

“I hope this won’t make things weird between us Bart. Like I honestly don’t have a problem with it. But if it’s too hard for you to be around me, if that just makes you upset or uncomfortable and you need some distance from me I get it.” Jaime added doing a poor job to mask the genuine disappointment in his tone from actually thinking about Bart taking a break from their friendship.

 

“What? No!” Bart choked. Sure it would be awkward and painful being around Jaime after his confession but he wasn’t prepared to take space from Jaime even if it was beneficial for his mental health. He cared about Jaime way too much to even consider it. Besides, Bart was hoping his feelings would dissipate over the next few months now that he had been rejected.

 

“I don’t need space!” Bart reiterated confidently.

 

“Thank god!” Jaime ran a hand through his hair. “I did not want to lose my best friend!”

 

“I’m not going anywhere.” Bart returned.

 

“Good.”

 

The two went back to the movie and pretended like nothing ever happened. Although they were both actively engaged within their own minds.

 

Bart was resisting the urge to excuse himself under false pretenses and leave early because right now he wanted to be alone so that he could cry his eyes out. But he knew if he did leave early, that Jaime would know exactly why. And he didn’t want to make things weird.

 

_I HAVE NEVER FELT SO MODED IN MY LIFE! AT LEAST HE STILL WANTS TO BE FRIENDS I SUPPOSE. I’M SO GLAD JAIME DIDN’T GET MAD OR ANYTHING. BUT HE STILL WANTS TO BE FRIENDS. I CAN MAKE THAT WORK. CAN’T I? SURELY…_

 

Bart was not paying even the slightest bit of attention to the movie as he sorted through his thoughts and feelings in that moment.

 

Jaime wasn’t paying attention to the movie either.

 

_I feel so bad for rejecting him! I hope he is going to be alright. I still can’t believe he is well… I am assuming gay? Maybe he’s bisexual? And of all people… he likes me? Well I did not see that coming… Does this mean I need to make an effort to not go shirtless around him anymore? Would that be mean? I wonder if he has told anybody else?_

 

Jaime laughed internally now. He just was surprised and couldn’t believe someone actually liked him. And for him. Knowing all that he was. Sure some female civilians had hit on him when he was out of costume but Jaime had to turn them down because he didn’t want to have to explain the scarab on his back. And even then it had only been two or three girls.

 

But Bart was well aware of Khaji Da, knew everything about him, about his destined betrayal and everything. And he was still somehow interested? Jaime was baffled.

 

The end of the movie couldn’t come soon enough for Bart. As soon as it was over he left and as soon as he got to his bed, the waterworks began.

 

Barry and Iris must have been psychic, because they came in to ask Bart about how it went.

 

They weren’t even sure if he had, but they had an inkling. They were both disheartened upon walking in to see Bart sitting up against his bed’s headboard motionless. Tears had stained his cheeks and he was staring aimlessly at the wall across from him.

 

“Bart are you alright?” Iris asked softly.

 

“He didn’t feel the same way.” Bart offered not looking either of them eye.

 

“I’m sorry honey.” Iris said as she awkwardly tried to wrap her arms around him in a hug to which Bart made no effort to move and make things easier for her.

 

“Well it’s his loss Bart.” Barry added.

 

“Is it?” Bart asked rhetorically.

 

“Of course it is!” Iris took over. “You are such a kind, caring and loyal person. Anybody would be lucky to have you.”

 

“Then why didn’t he want me?” Bart asked as fresh tears now traced the lines on his cheeks that the older tears had left.

 

Neither Barry or Iris answered and just forcefully maneuvered him forwards so they could both properly hug him as he wept again. They both knew there could have been many reasons Jaime didn’t feel the same way so they didn’t answer. Namely, Jaime being straight, which no one could blame him for, including Bart. Bart was just tired and upset and happy to cry in his grandparent’s arms because they were mainly all he could rely on aside from Jaime.


	3. Chapter 3

Bart continued being Jaime’s friend as he had so desperately wanted. The first few times Bart had hugged Jaime in front of the team had been awkward but Bart had decided people would question it if Bart suddenly stopped hugging Jaime since he always did it. Not to mention they were trying to keep things “normal” so that’s exactly what Bart did. Bart continued to be the sweet friend he had always been and Jaime was glad nothing had changed. Well not to his knowledge.

 

Months passed and Bart only wanted Jaime even more with every passing day. His feelings just progressively grew. He thought about Jaime at least every 5 minutes in the most literal sense.

 

Missions became harder and Bart struggled to keep his attention on anything other than Jaime’s safety. But he somehow managed to get away with it without anyone noticing.

 

The only person who had noticed anything different in Bart had been Black Canary. All of the team members were required to do therapy with her.

 

She had noticed Bart was off. She couldn’t put her finger on what exactly had changed in Bart. She obviously tried to manipulate Bart into offering up the information but Bart was too clever and saw through her psychological tricks. Bart’s past in the Reach apocalypse had taught him the importance of having a closed mind and he was somewhat familiar with psychology as it was a topic he had studied in his spare time since returning to the past in an effort to get to better understand society since he did initially struggle with that.

 

And Bart wasn’t the only person Black Canary had noticed a change in.

 

“Hello Jaime.” Black Canary said in her smooth and naturally seductive tone. Jaime always thought it was incredible how such an inviting voice could hide such an immense weapon.

 

“Hi.” Jaime greeted as he sat in the chair directly opposite her.

 

“You’re looking particularly nice this afternoon.” she complimented in a friendly manner.

 

“Gracias. Thanks.” Jaime said offering up the translation afterwards for which he felt foolish because she would have at least known basic words from Spanish including ‘Gracias’.

 

Nevertheless she smiled back and showed she wasn’t offended. After all Jaime was just trying to be helpful.

 

“What’s the occasion?” she asked circling back to her initial point of conversation.

 

“There’s no occasion. I’m just catching up with a friend.”

 

“Perhaps a female friend?” Black Canary asked carefully so as to not sound too intrusive.

 

Black Canary only wondered because the truth was Jaime was dressed quite sharply. He was wearing a dinner shirt and a nice pair of jeans which was a step up from his usual cargo pants and jumper.

 

Acting on impulse, Jaime lied.

 

“Yup.”

 

The truth was he was just catching up with Bart for another movie night tonight. But for some reason he didn’t want to admit to Black Canary he was all dressed up just for Bart. In fact, he wasn’t even sure why he was dressed up for Bart.

 

_Wait why am I all dressed up for Bart? Am I- Why would- Why am I trying to impress him? Don’t be stupid Jaime. You can dress up to impress your friends? It’s only natural to want to look good in front of your friends._

 

 _“You have made no effort to dress up for any of your other friends?”_ Khaji Da unhelpfully pointed out.

 

“Shut up!” Jaime scolded.

 

Jaime’s eyes widened in apologetic fear. He noticed Black Canary had been taken by surprise and the barbed comment.

 

“I’m so sorry, I was talking to the scarab.” Jaime said gesturing annoyedly to his back.

 

“It’s okay.” Black Canary soothed.

 

“I might just call it a day if that’s alright?” Jaime asked.

 

“Sure.”

 

Ordinarily Black Canary wouldn’t let anybody go early but she decided to because she understood how difficult it must be for Jaime to have a second voice in his head. She also thought if Jaime had been going on a date that he might want extra time to get his nerves under control or something like that.

 

Jaime had known she was presuming that Jaime was going on a date that evening. He wasn’t looking forward to their next session. He knew she’d likely press for details regarding the so called date.

 

“Honestly Khaji Da, what was her problem?” Jaime said as he flew towards his house to meet Bart.

 

“A guy can’t dress nicely to impress his friends?” Jaime scoffed covering up Khaji Da’s attempt at a response. Jaime kept rambling in annoyance and Khaji Da gave up trying to provide its input on the matter after numerous failed attempts.

 

Jaime armored down revealing his nice clothes in his backyard. He walked into his bedroom shaking his head and to his surprise Bart was already there.

 

“Are you okay Jaime?” Bart asked instantly noticing the nice outfit but not saying anything right away.

 

“Yeh of course I am! Why wouldn’t I be?” Jaime laughed as if Bart was crazy.

 

“Well I kind of saw you just kick a tuft in the lawn outside… And you were also shaking your head when you walked in just now.”

 

“It’s nothing.” Jaime said his face dropping in annoyance at Bart’s fine detective skills.

 

Bart could tell Jaime didn’t want to talk about it so he didn’t press for any more details.

 

Hoping to distract Jaime from his troubles he beamed before saying, “I hope you don’t mind me saying but you look nice tonight.”

 

Bart nervously shuffled his foot into the carpet unsure of whether he had crossed a line.

 

Jaime was grateful Bart had been looking away when his face scrunched up at the reminder of why he was angry in the first place.

 

It gave him the brief moment he needed to hide his expression and respond in a convincing ‘I don’t care’ tone, “Thanks hermano.”

 

But he did care. He was glad Bart had noticed. That was what he had wanted all along.

 

Jaime decided to move beyond the matter and offered up a movie to which Bart obviously accepted. Bart never protested against Jaime’s choice even if he didn’t have any interest in the movie he had chosen. Jaime knew Bart did this and thought it was really kind of him.

 

“Oh shoot! I forgot to do the dishes! Ma is going to kill me!” Jaime said groaning rubbing his hands down the sides of his face and tensing up visualising the sound of an angry Bianca Reyes.

 

“It’s crash hermano, I already took care of it for you.” Bart said nonchalantly.

 

“What? You did?” Jaime asked putting his hands down to look over at Bart in surprise.

 

“Yeh. Milagro dobbed you in for not doing the dishes to Bianca and so I used my super speed to finish them off before you could get into trouble.” Bart said grinning widely at the reminder of Milagro’s stark shocked face when Bianca charged into the kitchen ready to use her shrill mother voice on Jaime if Milagro had been right.

 

“What are you talking about? He has done them! Stop being mean to your brother Milagro!” Bianca snapped at her.

 

Milagro just stood there dumbfounded.

 

“You should have seen her face!” Bart chuckled.

 

Jaime laughed too imagining her look of shock.

 

“Thanks hermano!” Jaime managed to get out, despite being doubled over still laughing. Jaime pressed play on the movie and ironically Bart was actually paying attention to it instead of Jaime for once. Jaime drifted off into thoughts of how lucky he was to have an amazing guy like Bart for a friend. He always had his back, and always did sweet things for him. He could name at least twenty from the past week off the top of his head.

 

It wasn’t long before Bart had a question regarding the movie which broke Jaime out of these thoughts but with a smile to accommodate.


	4. Chapter 4

“Bart. I think you know why you’ve been called in here.” Black Canary said softly.

 

“Yes.” Bart said tapping his foot hating the confrontation.

 

“The team has noticed your head is not in the game. Is there anything you need to talk about?” she asked.

 

“Nope.” Bart cheerfully responded looking over at Nightwing.

 

Nightwing was flickering in between looks of sorrow from his kinder side but also stern looks of seriousness which had been instilled in him by the dark knight.

 

“If I may,” Nightwing gestured at Black Canary indicating it was his turn to speak, “Bart I can tell something is bothering you. You’re not concentrating anymore or following protocol. I mean you went off mission without an explanation the other day and you still haven’t told me why.”

 

“I don’t know what to say.” Bart copped out.

 

Black Canary shot him a look of suspicion having heard this new information from Nightwing. She was starting to realize there was a lot more to Bart than meets the eye.

 

Bart had gone off mission and turned his comm’ off to go check on Jaime when he had been struck down in a fight with some meta humans. Jaime hadn’t requested any which meant Bart should have remained by the team’s side and helped but instead he broke protocol and disappeared for a few minutes to check on Jaime. When the team tried to contact him they weren't able to. But Bart couldn’t help himself, he had needed to make sure Jaime was okay.

 

“Where did you go Bart?” Black Canary asked without any tact.

 

“To the toilet.” Bart lied. He had to hide his amusement over the lie.

 

“Unlikely.” Nightwing responded unamused.

 

“Look, Bart, this is serious. You need to step up. Now come with me it’s time for that time meeting I arranged.” Nightwing concluded.

 

Bart dragged his feet as he walked unsure of what he was going to do. He had been finding his feelings for Jaime an everlasting burden. He thought he could handle being just friends with Jaime. He was pulled out of his thoughts by Nightwing’s commanding voice.

 

“Hi Team. I have gathered you all today for a meeting to discuss something very important. We have a possible opportunity for one of you. A lot of different squads and sections of the Justice League are liaising with their teams as of right now too. Vandal Savage is causing some trouble on the other side of the galaxy. We need a volunteer who is happy to help with some of the Justice League members to defuse the situation. We must warn you it will probably be a long mission and you’ll be on the other side of the galaxy for months, possibly even more than a year. So if you can’t go that long without seeing your family, friends or partners, don’t volunteer."

 

Nightwing took a moment to clear his throat before continuing, "The mission goes ahead in one week. The plan is to use Hal Jordan’s ship, the Interceptor to get there which its AI, Aya, approximates that the trip will take about 6 days. We would have used boom tubes since they are essentially instant but Savage managed to create some kind of technology to prevent us from doing so; similarly as we did with our Zeta beams to stop the Kroloteans from coming to Earth. We need some time to gather essential inventory for the mission and we are also waiting for further instructions from the Green Lantern core. Details are sparse at the moment. Oa has already dispatched all units within the vicinity to begin the mission. But Oa believes they will eventually need reinforcements from Earth.”

 

Nightwing took the chance to send a fleeting glance at Oracle smiling at her knowing he couldn’t volunteer because he couldn’t be away from her for that long. She smiled back.

 

There were a few gasps amongst the team members after hearing about the mission.

 

“Is anyone interested?” Nightwing asked surveying the room for hands.

 

Nobody put their hand up. All of them had family, friends or partners they couldn’t go that long without seeing.

 

“That’s okay.” Nightwing reassured seeing fear wash over all of their faces as they collectively wondered if this then became a draw from the hat situation.

 

“Hopefully one of the other squads will have more luck finding someone to volunteer.” Nightwing said before dismissing them all.

 

Bart and Jaime decided to go back to his house after the mission.

 

Whilst Jaime was flying back to his house carrying Bart in his arms he challenged, “Imagine being so alone that you didn’t have any family or friends or anybody else to stay here for!”

 

“Yeh. That would be pretty sad.” Bart said thinking about the poor person who did eventually volunteer for the mission.

 

“I mean, I know I never could!” Jaime said.

 

“Me neither.” Bart agreed.

 

“I’d miss my family too much. What about you ese?”

 

“I’d miss Iris, Barry, Jay, Joan, the twins and you. That’s about it.” Bart said without hesitating.

 

The remark caught Jaime by surprise and he felt his arms loosen slightly as he was about to drop Bart before squeezing him a bit in a frantic effort as he regained control over his arms.

 

Bart’s stomach churned when he felt like was about to fall.

 

“Sorry I just got an arm cramp. Don’t worry I won’t drop you.” Jaime laughed nervously to cover up his guilt. He hadn’t even thought to mention Bart, or any of his friends. But the fact that Bart had mentioned him specifically, and without even thinking about it, made Jaime feel guilty for not doing the same. It also made him blush which made him extra glad that his armor hid his face.

 

“Please don’t, I’m precious cargo.” Bart said laughing a little to cover up the pain that was slowly starting to bleed in at Jaime having not mentioned his name.

 

Jaime looked down in to Bart’s wide green eyes. He felt something change inside of him.

 

 _“Jaime Reyes, I sense an unknown issue about to occur. System malfunction in 3 seconds.”_ Khaji Da suddenly blurted out.

 

“What?” Jaime shrieked.

 

Bart suddenly looked up at Jaime fear painted across his face at the sudden exclamation.

 

“What is it Jai-” Bart began.

 

And then Khaji Da shut down.

 

“Meeeeeeee!” Bart began screaming as he began to fall with Jaime who was forced to watch in horror through the eye holes in the armor as Bart tumbled out of his arms and began falling just below him.

 

“BART!” Jaime screamed through the armor.

 

Bart was trying to think quickly as he fell through the sky with Jaime falling just above him.

 

He remembered the wind funnel his father had taught him when he was younger but he had never attempted it from mid air before, only on the ground to send something upwards, not to stop something from falling downwards at an accelerated rate.

 

He started spinning his hands as fast as he could and tried to create a funnel big enough to lower both him and Jaime safely to the ground.

 

He managed to get one to formulate but it wasn’t big enough for both of them. He shifted his weight and angled it to catch Jaime and kept the air circulating with his dominant hand to keep control of it while attempting to make a second one for himself with his other hand.

 

Bart somewhat succeeded but due to his other hand not being quite so coordinated he hit the ground a lot harder than Jaime did. Bart even through in a last minute gust of wind to send Jaime over some grass for a softer landing. He hadn’t even noticed that his landing was currently concrete.

 

He hit the ground losing all the air in his lungs within a millisecond as he rolled at a sharp angle causing him to graze numerous parts of his body and instantly begin bleeding out.

 

Jaime hadn’t hit the ground rather hard. It had felt like he had just fallen onto his mattress or something. Bart had made sure to put most of his focus into Jaime’s safe landing. Jaime couldn’t see Bart anymore. In fact, he couldn’t see anything, just darkness. He was facing the ground.

 

He had heard Bart hit the ground and it had not sounded good.

 

“BART!” Jaime screamed his voice breaking. He was crying now. He was completely immobile. He couldn’t move at all. He thrashed around madly but the suit disallowed any movement. All he could do was wait for Khaji Da to restore power. He was completely useless.


	5. Chapter 5

_“Restoring power.”_ Khaji Da finally announced.

 

“Thank god!” Jaime yelled.

 

“Come on! Come on! Hurry up Khaji Da I don’t have time for this!” Jaime yelled out of frustration while he watched a transparent progress bar in front of his eyes buffer.

 

 _“Done. Running system diagnostics.”_ Khaji Da said as he recoiled the armor so that Jaime was now finally free of the suit.

 

“Bart!” Jaime yelled getting up not a care in the world about Khaji Da and his mission to discover the cause of the suit’s malfunction.

 

Jaime looked around. He spotted a trail of blood. He ran following it to find Bart lying in a car-park. Jaime had landed on the grass in a local park. It was a wonder neither of them had landed in a tree.

 

He ran over to Bart who was unconscious.

 

“Khaji Da wake him up now!” Jaime ordered.

 

 _“I can not at the moment. I am running system diagnostics. All non-essential systems are offline while I scan them.”_ Khaji Da informed in his monotone voice.

 

“I don’t give a shit about your diagnostics! Scan Bart now!” Jaime snapped anger frothing inside of him. He was so angry he wanted to rip the scarab off of his back and trod on it.

 

 _“Sorry Jaime Reyes. But you will have to wait until I complete my tests.”_ Khaji Da said emotionlessly.

 

“I don’t have time for you and your stupid tests!” Jaime snapped back.

 

He leaned over Bart. He placed his hands on Bart’s neck. He was cold. There was no pulse.

 

“Shit!” Jaime whined. “Bart why didn’t you save yourself!?!” he said beginning to cry.

 

He started administering chest compressions as per CPR protocol dictates.

 

“1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6-” Jaime panted as he pushed down forcefully on Bart’s chest with desperation.

 

Bart shot up breathing for air.

 

“JAIME are you-” Bart was beginning to yell before he even realized Jaime was already hugging him.

 

“Dios Mio!” Jaime sobbed, “I thought I had lost you!”

 

Bart tried to steady his breathing as he realized that Jaime was indeed okay. The hug was simultaneously raising his heart rate making it even harder to control.

 

“I’m okay!” Bart reassured.

 

Jaime was not okay. He was a blubbering mess. “You almost died! I had to give you CPR!”

 

“Don’t tell me I was out for the mouth to mouth portion!” Bart said patting Jaime on the back soothingly.

 

“This isn’t funny Bart!” Jaime snapped still crying until his crying suddenly changed to crying with laughter. Bart smiled knowing his humor had worked its magic.

 

Bart rubbed his hand in circles on Jaime’s back. Jaime had never felt more relaxed in his life which was saying something given that he had literally just experienced the most stress in his life only moments earlier. Jaime could have fallen asleep if it weren’t for the adrenaline pumping through his body. He felt too alive in this moment. Which is ironic because he was mentally preparing himself to blow some of that liveliness he didn’t need into a lifeless Bart only a minute ago. He thought about pressing his lips against Bart’s if he had reached 20 chest compressions without any change in his condition. He had noticed how soft and pink they were. And also how weird it would be to essentially kiss your best friend. He swotted the thoughts away.

 

“Let’s go back to yours.” Bart said after a while of consoling Jaime.

 

“Okay.” Jaime responded as he sniffled.

 

Jaime stood up to watch Bart stand and fall immediately.

 

Bart breathed in a quick draw of air through gritted teeth as the pain shot through his left leg. “Argh!” he yelped.

 

Jaime immediately swooped down to catch him with one arm.

 

“Bart! Are you alright?” Jaime exclaimed.

 

“Yeh yeh. Totally crash. My leg is a little moded though.” he winced.

 

“I’ll carry you!” Jaime offered.

 

“Can’t we fly?” Bart questioned.

 

“No.” Jaime answered directing his anger at Khaji Da. “Khaji Da is running tests and he is unavailable at the moment.”

 

Bart had actually been so worried about Jaime up until this point he had completely forgotten to even question what had happened with Khaji Da shutting down.

 

“Oh.” Bart had a million questions but could tell Jaime was quite angry and just decided not to ask. He chose to instead be grateful that they had both survived the fall. And to also be grateful for Jaime who was carrying him bridal style which he was secretly loving.

 

“My leg should hopefully be good in a few minutes thanks to my speedster healing.” Bart offered up (only because he felt sorry for Jaime whose arms were surely getting tired).

 

“I don’t care. I am not putting you down. Not worth the risk.” Jaime said with a stern tone reminiscent of Batman’s.

 

They finally got to Jaime’s house. Jaime hadn’t even realized until now that Bart was still in full uniform from the meeting.

 

“Uhh Blue. I am still in my costume, we can’t let your family see me like this.”

 

“Oh shit!” Jaime hissed.

 

Jaime had to quietly carry Bart around the side of the house. Unfortunately for them there was a fence in the way.

 

“Ok Bart, I am gonna sit you on this fence okay. Then I am going to jump over and pull you over.”

 

Bart nodded.

 

Jaime hoisted Bart up on to the fence and let go of him when he thought he was balanced well. Jaime was about to jump over the fence when Bart started slipping.

 

“Nononono! Jaime I’m falling!” Bart hissed under his breath.

 

Jaime gasped and jumped to grab Bart’s legs but missed.

 

Bart clenched his teeth as he hit the lawn on the other side. Thankfully it didn’t hurt that much. From being roughed up as a superhero, small falls like that were nothing.

 

“Ouch!” Bart winced quietly from the side of the fence knowing he had to be quiet so as to not alert any of Jaime’s family members inside to their presence.

 

Jaime immediately swung himself over the fence ushering his clenched hands over his mouth as he looked at Bart sprawled out on his back.

 

“OH MY GOD I AM SO SORRY!” Jaime said his mouth flapping like a goldfish.

 

Bart started laughing. “That’s twice in one day you’ve let me fall!”

 

Jaime started laughing feeling indescribably guilty. He scooped Bart up again and ran around to the back of the house.

 

 _“System diagnostic complete. Cause of system malfunction unknown. All systems online.”_ Khaji Da informed.

 

_Are you serious? Not only did you nearly let Bart die to run these foolish tests, you didn’t even find anything?!?_

 

“We did not Jaime Reyes. Would you like us to fly you and Bart Allen up to your bedroom window?” the bug offered knowing Jaime Reyes was livid with it.

 

_Obviously!_

 

Khaji Da activated the suit armor and flew them up to the window seal. They entered and Jaime armored down, placing Bart on his bed ready to assess Bart’s injuries.


	6. Chapter 6

“Dios mio!” Jaime gasped hovering his hands over Bart’s upper chest grazes shaking his head in disbelief.

 

Most of the small to medium size grazes had already started healing and were almost shut now but some of the bigger wounds hadn’t changed at all.

 

“Do you want some band-aids or anything?” Jaime offered unsure of what else he could offer.

 

“No it’s okay. Actually if you have a bandage that would be crash, I have one graze that’s particularly bad.”

 

“Of course!” Jaime responded without hesitation before running downstairs to grab a bandage before bounding back up the stairs like Bart’s life depended on it.

 

“Ok. Show me where it is, I will wrap it up for you.” Jaime instructed.

 

“It’s okay. Jaime. I’ll do it.”

 

“No you need to rest! I’ll do it just tell me where to bandage.” Jaime argued.

 

“It’s on my inner thigh.” Bart said.

 

Jaime looked down and for the first time actually noticed the gaping hole in his suit and graze on his leg.

 

“Oh my god!” Jaime said stumbling back in amazement at the sheer size of the wound.

 

_How did I miss that?!?_

 

“Umm. Can you even get your suit off without my help?” Jaime asked still insistent on helping.

 

“Oh.” Bart looked down in disappointment. That thought hadn’t even occurred to him. He would need help getting it off.

 

“You don’t have to.” Bart pleaded with Jaime making it known he didn’t want Jaime to have to do anything he was uncomfortable with.

 

Jaime ignored Bart and started unzipping his costume from the back. Bart was regretting having gone back to a one piece suit. He missed the two part one he had dawned to honor Wally’s memory. Jaime managed to get the suit off relatively easily and Bart was left sitting on Jaime’s bed in nothing but his briefs.

 

“This is so not crash!” Bart groaned leaning back on both arms.

 

Jaime had to do a double take when he actually stood up after pulling the suit off where it got stuck on his feet. He stared at Bart’s bulge. He was wearing faded red trunks with a silver slip-out pouch. Evidently, these trunks didn’t leave too much to the imagination.

 

 _“System malfunction in 3 seconds.”_ Khaji Da informed bringing Jaime back in to reality.

 

“Not again!” Jaime yelled quietly closing his eyes in anticipation of something bad to happen. The scarab did indeed malfunction and switched off but given that the armor was already retracted it didn’t affect Jaime at all.

 

“Oh. That’s a relief.” Jaime exhaled when he realized that the scarab was shut down in a state where it didn’t affect him.

 

“What?” Bart said still feeling too embarrassed to put together the clues to realize Khaji Da had shut down again.

 

“Nothing it’s fine.” Jaime said dismissively looking again at Bart.

 

_Oh my god his six pack is better than mine!_

 

Again, Jaime found himself looking back at Bart’s crotch. He swallowed nervously.

 

“Oh right, the bandage!” Jaime muttered stupidly as Bart stared back up at him waiting for him to move.

 

He leaned down and lifted up Bart’s leg so he could wrap the bandage underneath it.

 

“Garh!” Bart yelped not expecting the pain.

 

“Sorry Bart!” Jaime whispered.

 

Jaime started wrapping the bandage around Bart’s inner thigh. When he was done he clipped it up properly. And his hand, having now developed a mind of its own, lingered a bit on the bandage before begrudgingly sliding off.

 

“You’re welcome to stay the night while you recover.” Jaime offered.

 

“I don’t want to be a burden.” Bart said attempting to stand up before falling back on the bed wallowing in the pain moving caused him.

 

“Bart don’t be an idiot! You’re not healed enough to even walk home let alone run. You nearly just died because of me! You’re staying here!” Jaime snapped. Besides he didn’t want Bart to leave. He was enjoying taking care of Bart. It only felt natural given he had saved Jaime’s life.

 

“Just go to sleep!” Jaime said as he hopped on the bed beside Bart.

 

Bart’s eyes widened. He had not been expecting Jaime to sleep in the same bed as him. He was even more surprised that Jaime was facing towards him too as he laid down.

 

“Umm Jaime?” Bart asked.

 

“Yes Bart?” Jaime said opening his eyes.

 

“Can I uhh… borrow some clothes?”

 

Jaime blushed. He had completely forgotten to offer Bart any clothes. Bart was still sporting just his underwear.

 

“Uhh.... yeh of course!” Jaime stammered trying to concentrate on stopping his cheeks from going any redder.

 

Jaime went and got some of his clothes for Bart and helped dress him. Jaime had just put a pair of jeans on Bart who was reaching out both of his arms downwards to zip up the fly when Jaime swooped in and did it for him first.

 

Bart’s eyes opened even wider than before. He was worried they might fall out. His mouth fell open to complete his shocked expression.

 

Jaime suddenly noticed what he had done and that his hands were still just resting now in Bart’s lap.

 

“Oh sorry! Force of habit?” Jaime said, the latter part sounding more like a question than a statement.

 

“Well I’m tired goodnight Bart!” Jaime said in under a second flat. Bart had never heard Jaime speak so quickly in his life.

 

Jaime jumped down beside him again but faced his back towards him this time. Bart slowly laid back down in shock. He was genuinely worried about Jaime.

 

_Why is he acting so weird. Did he get a concussion from the fall? I mean he looked relatively unscathed. Maybe I should take him to a hospital. Wait, Khaji Da is working again, he would know if Jaime had a concussion! That must mean everything is fine._

 

Bart fell asleep pretty quickly. Jaime however jolted awake a handful of minutes later when Khaji Da informed him that he was operational again. Jaime tried having a conversation with the scarab to see if it had yet discovered the cause of the malfunctions. Unfortunately, the scarab was clueless and actually seemed irritated for once not knowing the answer to something.

 

After Jaime had given up on the conversation he rolled over to look at Bart. He looked at the mess of auburn hair that covered most of Bart’s face. He reached over and tucked it behind Bart’s ear.

 

_How does he put up with such long hair. God that must being annoying!_

 

These were the thoughts that he mulled over as he fell asleep. He never even realized that he had even reached over to affectionately tuck Bart’s hair behind his ear so that he could admire his face while he slept.  And Khaji Da malfunctioned one last time before Jaime was able to finally fall asleep.


	7. Chapter 7

“Good morning.” Jaime asked Bart as he watched him wake.

 

“Jaime?” Bart questioned in confusion.

 

“Yes?”

 

“You’re awake before me? How is that-” Bart started.

 

“I don’t know? Pretty strange huh?” Jaime said laughing to distract Bart.

 

He had lied. Again. He had asked Khaji Da to set an alarm to wake him up early the next morning so that he could check on Bart.

 

 _“Why are you lying again?”_ Khaji Da asked as he analysed their interactions.

 

_Because if he knew I woke up early for him on purpose, he’d just get a big ego._

 

Khaji Da pondered Jaime’s response. Based on the way Jaime batted this thought up on the spot excuse to him he decided to bring the lie tally up to 3.

 

“How are you feeling?” Jaime asked before Khaji Da had a chance to speak again.

 

“Pretty crash actually!” Bart beamed.

 

Bart wanted to analyse his grazes and see if they were all gone yet. He ran to the corner of the room so that his back was facing Jaime. He stripped off all his clothes, except for his trunks, in the blink of an eye as well as the bandage. He was completely graze free. He zipped over to this ripped suit and held it up looking at the tears in the material.

 

“I am just going to leave this here.” Bart said knowing it was too damaged to be worn again whilst he ran at super speed.

 

Jaime’s brain had only now gotten the chance to process all of that which had happened in under a second. Bart was just suddenly standing there in his trunks again talking at him.

 

 _“System malfunction in three seconds.”_ Khaji Da informed.

 

“Are you serious?” Jaime spat as he became increasingly frustrated with each shut down.

 

“Yeh?” Bart said not realizing Jaime was talking to the scarab. “It has holes all over it and it would probably just rip and fall off of me at super speed.” Bart added as he examined the material still dangling in front of his face.

 

Jaime rolled his eyes as Khaji Da shut down yet again and Bart who had like many others, failed to realize he was talking to the scarab. He was very used to that now though.

 

“Umm yeh. That’s fine. Just wear my clothes I guess.” Jaime said concentrating on only Bart now.

 

“Thanks!” Bart chirped as he dressed himself in them again in super speed.

 

“Don’t worry I will take good care of them!” Bart jeered looking at Jaime who seemed exhausted for reasons unknown.

 

Jaime smiled without showing his teeth to show he appreciated Bart’s attempts at ridding his face of the solemn expression they were both aware of.

 

“Well I better go home! My folks are probably worried about me.” Bart said as he pondered whether he should give Jaime a hug before leaving.

 

“Yeh. No worries.” Jaime softly stated.

 

Bart could tell he was distracted. Something was not okay with him. So he gave in to his urge and gave Jaime a hug. Jaime wrapped his arms around Bart tightly which Bart had not been expecting.

 

“You’re going to crush me!” Bart joked.

 

Jaime laughed. And released him. Bart sped off as Jaime lingered his eyes on the open door that Bart had left through.

 

 _“Power restored.”_ Khaji Da announced.

 

“Okay what the hell is wrong with you Khaji Da!” Jaime snapped. He was fed up with the random malfunctions.

 

“I actually have two things to tell you regarding my malfunctions. One. I can conclude that the issue is related to your human body. The error is not being caused by any of my software or hardware. You are my host and something in your physiology is depriving me of power to stay online. Two. I have noticed a correlation between all the shutdowns I have experienced. I have saved data each time before shutting down and in each checkpoint I noticed a constant. Bart Allen. He has been physically present during each shut down. Recommended tactic, eliminate the Bart Allen.”

 

Jaime didn’t even dignify that with a response. Jaime knew Khaji Da was not going to eliminate, terminate or eviscerate anyone. Khaji Da had tried using different adjectives in the hopes his host would listen to one of them eventually but Jaime never did.

 

_Khaji Da is right. Bart was with me during each shut down. Is it possible he is causing this somehow?_

 

Jaime decides to meet up with Bart later to discuss the issue. In the meantime, he decides to let the league know that he needs a temporary break from the team.

 

He contacts Nightwing through his comm’ device.

 

“Hello Jaime.” the leader greets.

 

Jaime greets him back. He follows that up by asking for time off and explaining that the scarab is not working properly therefore meaning he can’t effectively help on missions. Nightwing was intrigued upon hearing about the malfunctioning scarab but didn’t ask too many questions as he was on a tight schedule. It was a miracle Jaime had managed to catch him when he wasn’t on a mission he thought to himself.

 

“Sure. That should be fine. Feel free to come up to the watchtower we can have our medical experts examine you if you want.” Nightwing said wondering whether he should make it an order or leave it open to choice. He decided to leave it open to choice for now and then make it an order if Jaime’s scarab was still malfunctioning for longer than a week.

 

“Thanks.” Jaime responded without actually letting Nightwing know either way of whether he would take up the offer or not.

 

The conversation ended briefly after that.

 

Jaime felt weird after the phone call. He had never asked for time off before. He hoped that he could get this issue resolved sooner rather than later and decided not to procrastinate. He grabbed his phone and messaged Bart asking to meet up with him later.

 

Bart replied promptly obviously agreeing to the meet up. They settled on later again that same day.

 

“Good morning Jaime!” Bianca greeted walking into Jaime’s room.

 

Jaime noticed that Bart’s costume was lying on the floor near his bed still.

 

“Hi ma! What’s that on the wall behind you?” He asked pointing leaning over on one leg to sell the lie.

 

Amazingly, Bianca turned to look. Jaime took the opportunity to kick the suit under his bed so that it was entirely out of sight.

 

Bianca looked back at him after seeing nothing but the bare wall.

 

“What’s going on?” she asked with suspicion.

 

“I was just joking around ma! I am in a silly mood! Just ignore me.” he said grinning.

 

“Okay…” she hummed before dragging him out of his room for breakfast. Jaime complied and talked to her more than usual to try and distract her from his weird behavior just before. Jaime relaxed once he could tell that his plan had worked.


	8. Chapter 8

Jaime had just arrived at Bart’s house. Bart lunged out before he could knock or ring the door bell and ushered him inside quickly leading him up the stairs into his room before anyone was made aware of his presence in the Allen household

 

“What was that about?” Jaime questioned trying to catch his breath.

 

“Oh. Well Barry and Iris aren’t too happy with me at the moment.” Bart admitted. “Just steer clear of them okay?”

 

“Okay?” Jaime paused and took off his jumper before tossing it on to Bart’s desk. “What did you do?”

 

“It’s not important.” Bart said quickly before obviously distracting him by asking Jaime about what he had wanted to discuss with Bart.

 

Jaime saw the distraction coming from a mile away. He found it odd that Bart didn’t want to tell him about whatever he had done to upset his grandparents but nevertheless got straight to the point.

 

“So you know how my scarab malfunctioned?” Jaime queried.

 

“Yeh…” Bart said unsure of where this conversation was going.

 

“Well…” Jaime began before his comm’ started vibrating. He was receiving an incoming call. He ignored it.

 

“It happened again. Actually several times.” Jaime said looking at Bart intently to observe his reaction.

 

“What? Are you okay?” Bart said stepping towards him scanning his body for any clear signs of injury.

 

Jaime smiled. And grabbed Bart’s shoulders and forcefully pushed downwards to keep him still.

 

“I’m fine hermano. It’s only a worry if I am armored up.” Jaime explained.

 

“Oh. I never did ask the first time. What actually happened?” Bart asked.

 

“Funny you should ask.” Jaime said as he took a moment to phrase his next sentence carefully.

 

“I think it has something to do with you…” Jaime said wishing he hadn’t of made eye contact whilst saying it.

 

“Me!” Bart said with surprise.

 

“Yeh…” Jaime mumbled.

 

“What do you mean? I don’t understand? How could it have something to do with me?” Bart stammered feeling guilty for seemingly being responsible for nearly getting them both killed.

 

Bart looked away and started pacing as he tried to understand how he could have had any influence on the scarab. He wondered if his super powers somehow caused the malfunction but then he realized that was unlikely given they have worked side by side for years and this was only happening now. He didn’t get much time to think before Jaime had grabbed a hold of his shoulders again.

 

“Bart don’t feel guilty. Khaji Da just pointed out to me you were physically present during each shut down and so he assumed you were somehow part of the issue. You might not be!” Jaime reassured in a louder than regular voice.

 

“I am sorry Jaime. I don’t know what I did?” Bart concluded not sure of what else to say or do.

 

“It’s okay Bart. We don’t even know if it was you. I just thought I’d bring it up with you. See if you had any ideas?” Jaime asked.

 

“Sorry I don’t?” Bart responded not liking the feeling of not being able to help out his best friend.

 

“That’s okay hermano. I better go back home.” Jaime said unsure of what to do about the scarab issue anymore.

 

They said goodbye and Bart ushered Jaime out of the house again. Bart felt rude but it was important to him to prevent Jaime from bumping into Barry or Iris.

 

Jaime was about to head back home when he noticed the cold air brush his skin lifting up goosebumps as he shivered.

 

_Why am I so cold? Oh duh! I left my jumper in Bart’s room!_

 

Jaime turned around to knock on the door and just moments before he did he heard Barry and Iris talking as they now walked into the front room of the house.

 

Jaime knew it was wrong to eavesdrop, but immediately sensed tension in their voices and began to listen in on their conversation out of sheer nosiness. He was struggling to hear against the night wind so he walked closer to the window purely to be able to hear better but then he realized he could actually see through a gap in the curtain. Now he was full on spying.

 

“I just can’t believe Bart is doing this!” Iris said with her head in her hands at the table she had slumped down at.

 

“It’s what he wants to do! We are just going to have support him.” Barry responded sounding disappointed.

 

“I am going to miss him so much!” she said looking down at the table.

 

“I will too.” Barry concurred.

 

“It has been quite some ride having Bart here hasn’t it?” Iris said chuckling.

 

“I know right!” Barry said rolling his eyes.

 

“I still remember that day he discovered what Valentine's day was and how he didn’t hesitate to make Jaime a present! We had to tell him that was only for couples who were actually together. That took a lot of explaining!” she said laughing in awe of the memory.

 

Barry laughed too before asking, “Wait, what did he make again?”

 

“He wrote on 40 different heart shaped cards! Each one had a different reason why he thought Jaime was special. He said he had written one for each year he had traveled back in time until he would theoretically be able to tell his future self that he had met the most crash person ever.” Iris said placing her hand on her heart and smiling.

 

“That’s right!” Barry said appreciating Iris for fixing up the gap in his memory.

 

“Oh! Remember the time Bart lectured the league about their morals?” Barry asked taking his turn to share a memory about Bart.

 

“How could I forget! I’ve never heard of anyone being brave enough to square off with Batman!” Iris scoffed playfully.

 

“Yeh I remember being terrified. He eavesdropped on a secret league meeting and burst in out of anger when some of the leaguers discussed the possibility of killing Jaime to stop him before going on mode. He jumped right in and started yelling at everyone. I tried to shut him up but he wouldn’t let me. Batman stood up and told him to leave and he ran over to Batman and pointed directly at his face telling him he should be ashamed of himself for letting that choice of action be considered even if he wasn’t in favor of it (which he wasn’t).”

 

“Oof!” Iris exclaimed raising her eyebrows, knowing this was just one of many times Bart nearly got himself into more trouble than either Barry or Iris could have expected.

 

Jaime just stood there, in a daze.

 

_Bart made me a valentines day gift? I can’t believe he never told me about that! OR THAT HE LITERALLY STOOD UP TO BATMAN! FOR ME! I WOULDN'T HAVE EVEN STOOD UP TO HIM! AND IT WAS MY LIFE ON THE LINE!!!_

 

Jaime knocked eagerly on the door now desperate to speak with Bart. It wasn’t desirable, but he had to discuss both of these things he had just overheard with Bart.

 

“Jaime?” Barry questioned.

 

“Is Bart here? I need to talk with him right now.” Jaime said with urgency in his voice.

 

“Yeh? You sound distressed. Did he tell you?”

 

“Tell me what?” Jaime said genuinely confused now.

 

“Umm. Well, Bart decided to volunteer for that mission across the other side of the galaxy.”

 

“WHAT?” Jaime snapped angrily. Barry took a step back. He had never perceived Jaime as a threat before until now as Jaime was radiating anger.

 

“Why would he-” Jaime began saying as he furrowed his eyebrows deep in thought.

 

“I need to go.” Jaime said before Barry had a chance to say anything more.


	9. Chapter 9

Jaime slammed his bedroom door shut when he got home. It was a wonder no one had come to check on him. He started pacing around his room.

 

_Why is he going on that mission? Surely not because of his feelings for me! He said he was fine being just friends? It just makes no sense. And why didn’t he tell me! Was he just going to leave without giving me any notice at all? What the hell is he thinking?_

 

 _“It is clear the Impulse still has feelings for you Jaime Reyes. I scanned his vitals during our last interaction and he exhibited all the signs of infatuation.”_ Khaji Da contributed.

 

_Well there are plenty of ways to deal with them that don’t involve going to the other side of the friggin’ galaxy!_

 

_“Maybe this is for the best. He was still somehow a part of the malfunctions we were experiencing.”_

 

_You are so selfish Khaji Da you only think about yourself!_

 

_“Are you also not being selfish by wanting the Impulse to stay when he has opted to leave?”_

 

_YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND SO JUST SHUT UP!_

 

_“System malfunction in 3 seconds.”_

 

_Of course! Why would I expect anything else from you?_

 

Khaji Da shut down. Jaime was so angry he wanted to break something. He decided to let out his anger by doing the one thing he did best. Superhero-ing. He hacked the police radar with Khaji Da’s help after he came back online and suited up. He took down a surprising number of robberies that night. He had been unnecessarily harsh with taking down the criminals he came across that night.

 

Jaime didn’t even realize it was morning until he smelt some bacon and eggs wafting through the air from a nearby diner. His mouth began to water. He decided to return home and get some breakfast as he didn’t have any money currently on him to pay for takeaway.

 

Jaime groggily returned home and remained as spritely as he could through breakfast with his family as one could be having gone a whole night without sleep.

 

He went back up to his room afterwards and laid down on his bed. His heavy eyelids came tumbling down within seconds before he fell into a deep sleep. He began to dream.

 

“Bart!” he yelled.

 

“What is it hermano?” Bart responded concerned.

 

“Why are you going on this mission?”

 

“Because, I was the cause of your malfunctions. So I am running away. That’s what I do!” Bart responded with an unnatural amount of enthusiasm.

 

“Please don’t leave me!” Jaime begged.

 

“Too late!” Bart said before running over to a rocket placed a short run away.

 

Jaime tried to run after him since Bart was running at human speed. But Jaime’s feet were stuck to the floor. He couldn’t quite understand why his feet wouldn’t move. He lunged forward and his feet still remained stuck to the floor sending him falling flat on his chin. It hurt.

 

Bart waved excitedly before vanishing inside the rocket.

 

Jaime reached out, crying now, “No!”

 

The rocket began to shake violently as the miracle of science began propelling it off the ground. Red flames shooting out from underneath it that were an exact match to the shade of red on Bart’s superhero costume. About 10 seconds after taking off, the rocket suddenly exploded, presumably killing Bart who was inside.

 

“NO!” Jaime screamed as he sat up transitioning out of the nightmare into reality. He was panting heavily. He brought up a hand to his forehead and felt sweat plastered across it, which he didn’t like so he wiped it off on his duvet.

 

“What is it Jaime?” Bianca exclaimed bursting through his door almost giving Jaime a second heart attack.

 

“It’s fine!” Jaime responded sternly trying to convince both of them it truly was.

 

“That didn’t sound like you were fine to me!” Bianca challenged as she sat beside him choosing to ignore his obvious desire for her to leave.

 

“Seriously ma. I am fine!” Jaime said before standing up and excusing himself for fresh air without waiting for permission from his mother knowing he wouldn’t get it.

 

She was quite angry with Jaime for charging out of there without giving her a chance to help but she kept in mind that he was often one to need alone time.

 

Jaime was walking down his street when he was startled by a voice.

 

 _“Power restored.”_ Khaji Da informed.

 

“Wait, you shut down again?” Jaime asked out aloud instead of conversating in his mind with the scarab.

 

“Yes Jaime Reyes. I shut down during your nightmare about Bart Allen.”

 

“Wait a second? But I wasn’t near Bart. So Bart’s physical presence has nothing to do with my malfunctions, it’s his emotional presence. In my mind.” Jaime said taking a step back in shock as he realized the true cause of the scarab’s malfunctions.

 

 _“That would make sense given the latest malfunction disproved my first theory.”_ Khaji Da stated.

 

“What do I do?” Jaime asked.

 

 _“You will not like my recommended tactic.”_ Khaji Da responded showing some compassion for Jaime by not trying to suggest something that he knew would upset Jaime because he seemed emotionally fragile after his realization.

 

Jaime rolled his eyes but was surprised that the scarab was showing some consideration for once. Jaime walked all the way to Bart’s house thinking about him the whole time causing the scarab to repeatedly shut down the entire time Jaime walked.


	10. Chapter 10

The next few days were a blur of obsessing over Bart and not sleeping well for Jaime. He was still avoiding his emotions by doing the one thing he did best. Superhero-ing. He was in the middle of chasing a thug who had stolen a woman’s purse when his comm’ started vibrating due to an incoming call. He ignored it again. In fact, he had ignored anybody and everybody’s efforts to contact him. He hadn’t checked his phone in days. He assumed a lot of his missed calls would have been from Bart. He was still angry at Bart for not telling him about volunteering for the Vandal Savage mission.

 

Jaime had just cornered the thug in the alleyway when Jaime heard a familiar voice, “Hello Jaime.”

 

Jaime took a second to match the voice to the face in his mind. It was Booster Gold.

 

“Excuse me for just one minute.” Jaime responded.

 

He shoved the thug up against the wall and snatched the purse back.

 

“If you ever, take something from a defenseless civilian ever again…” Jaime paused considering how to finish his sentence.

 

So he did. But not with words. He punched a hole in the wall inches away from the thugs head.

 

He looked terrified. Booster Gold was taken aback by this brutal intimidation tactic Jaime had just used. He flew in to stop it before it could go any further. Booster was just thankful they were in an abandoned alleyway and that no one had caught Blue Beetle on camera doing that.

 

Booster pulled an uncooperative Jaime aside who snarled at the thug as he ran away.

 

“What is going on with you?” Booster asked concerned.

 

“Nothing. Why are you even here?” Jaime jumped straight to the point.

 

“Well I have been trying to contact you for days. Nightwing informed the league of your scarab issues and I eventually found out and have been trying to contact you via your comm’ and mobile phone ever since!” Booster said with a little bit of frustration given how hard it had been to get in touch with Jaime.

 

He softened his voice before continuing, “I promised Ted I would take care of you. I know I don’t show up very often or spend much time with you, and that’s on me. But you are clearly in need of help Jaime and I am here to help.”

 

“I don’t need your help!” Jaime snapped. His anger only spiked at hearing Ted’s name. He was always sad he never got to meet his mentor.

 

“Why are you so angry?” Booster asked calmly, “Is it because Bart is leaving?”

 

Jaime felt like he was going to explode. The mention of Bart’s name sent anger surging through his chest which caused the scarab to malfunction and this time he de-armored in the 3 second warning in time to prevent being stuck inside of it.

 

Jaime felt exposed now. The only reason he was willing to talk to Booster now was because he had no viable way of escaping this conversation without the scarab’s help.

 

“You still haven’t answered my question?” Booster asked irritating Jaime even more.

 

“He’s my best friend of course I don’t want him to leave!” Jaime snapped turning to begin walking away now because he decided walking home was preferable to this conversation.

 

“Well the last time I checked in with you, Tye had moved overseas, you said you didn’t mind when Tye left?” Booster said walking just behind Jaime not letting him leave this conversation.

 

“But he’s tye!” Jaime said waving a hand at Booster as if to say ‘now leave me alone’.

 

Booster stopped walking for a moment. Jaime heard his feet stop on the pavement.

 

“What’s the difference?” Booster asked his tone changing slightly.

 

“What? There is no difference!” Jaime snapped his voice becoming slightly hoarse given that he had been speaking in a raised voice a lot as of late.

 

“I think there is, I mean clearly there is! Look your hands are clenched in to fists! Your teeth are gritted and your even shaking!” Booster mocked.

 

Jaime span around and his brown eyes were alight with rage. “No I am not! Look you don’t know me! Just leave me alone!” Jaime shouted again noticing the strain in his throat all this yelling was causing him. Jaime turned again to continue walking away from this conversation.

 

Booster decided to take a risk since Jaime hadn’t quite reached his limit.

 

Booster ran in front of Jaime to block his path. Jaime tried to duck past him and Booster grabbed him and shoved him backwards the way in the direction he had just come from.

 

Booster now yelled properly for the first time since their conversation had begun, “Just tell me why Bart leaving is making you so mad?”

 

Jaime ran at him and shoved him against the wall in the alleyway.

“Because I love him!” Jaime shouted his voice finally giving in from all the yelling and all the dangerously high level of emotions flowing through him.

 

Booster had already assumed as much but it still came as somewhat of a shock to Jaime. Jaime took a moment to reflect on having openly admitted something he had subconsciously been struggling with.

 

“I don’t want to lose him.” Jaime said returning to his normal voice as tears began running down either side of his cheeks. Booster rushed forward to hug him and Jaime said it once more as if he was begging Booster to make Bart stay, as if he had some sort of control over the matter which both knew was not the case.

 

Jaime felt helpless.

 

“I think you know what you have to do.” Booster advised stepping back from him.

 

Jaime looked up at the sky, “I have to tell him.” He admired the beautiful ocean blue sky for a moment before Khaji Da pulled him out of it by announcing he was online again.

 

“Jaime Reyes, I sense something has shifted in your physiology.” the scarab observed.

 

“The good news is I don’t think we will be experiencing anymore malfunctions. I will fill you in on the way to Bart’s. Let’s go!” Jaime ordered.

 

He had started flying away when he realized he had forgotten to thank and apologise to Booster for being well… quite the handful. He quickly flew back down.

 

“I’m sorry for… you know. And thank you for helping me out.” Jaime said calmly as he was finally his old self again.

 

“It’s okay Jaime. I wasn’t sure if riling you up to the point of confession would work but it turns out your Blue Beetle’s are all the same.” he smiled before adding, “And don’t worry about the rest! We’re cool! I’ll try to catch-up with you more often! I look forward to properly meeting Bart!”

 

Jaime smiled. He hadn’t even realized that Booster Gold had been toying with him the whole time in order to get him to confess what he knew all along. He hadn’t given the time traveler enough credit for his abilities. It felt him with warmth to know that Booster had thought that he and Ted were similar. Jaime waved goodbye and flew off his smile growing at the mention of Bart’s name too.

 

“You’d be proud Ted old buddy!” Booster said to nobody as he flew off in the opposite direction to return to the watchtower for his next assignment.


	11. Chapter 11

_“The Booster Gold’s timing would definitely appear to have been beneficial with Bart’s mission occurring tomorrow.”_ Khaji Da said to Jaime as they continued their conversation during the flight to Bart’s house.

 

_What am I even going to say to Bart? I don’t know if he even still has feelings for me?_

 

 _“Jaime Reyes you are being paranoid. The Bart Allen still has feelings for you.”_ Khaji Da mocked.

 

Jaime flew down to the front door and de-armored not a care in the world if anyone saw. He was confident that expressing his feelings to Bart would be enough to stop him from leaving. He knocked in time with his racing heart.

 

“Jaime?” Barry questioned as he opened the door. Iris was standing just behind him.

 

“Hi Barry, Iris! Is Bart here I need to talk to him now! It’s really important!” Jaime pleaded.

 

“No sorry he’s- wait what’s really important? Is something wrong?” Barry asked concerned.

 

“No! Quite the opposite actually!” Jaime said as began to blush.

 

“Wow. I can’t believe I am telling you this but I know you guys already know Bart has feelings for me. And he wouldn’t keep what I’m about to tell you a secret anyway. I actually have feelings for Bart.” Jaime was red with embarrassment. He was shocked he had the courage to tell Bart’s grandparents.

 

_I guess this is good practice for when I tell Bart myself._

 

Jaime laughed in his mind.

 

“Really?” Barry asked turning to look at Iris who was biting her lip in excitement.

 

“Bart’s going to be so happy to hear-” Iris began before both of their faces dropped to sad expressions.

 

“What is it?” Jaime asked his face now dropping at the sight of theirs.

 

“Iris you tell him I need to go now!” Barry said pushing Jaime aside and dashing off.

 

“Umm.. Jaime. The mission schedule was brought forward. Bart left for the watchtower earlier this morning. I don’t know if its gone ahead yet or not but you should probably prepare for the possibility that-” Iris began before Barry had returned.

 

“He’s gone.” Barry said unable to make contact with Jaime out of pity for him.

 

“What? Are you sure?” Jaime asked not wanting for it to be true.

 

“Yeh when I got there the Interceptor was gone. I asked one of the scientists if the mission had indeed gone ahead and she said it had launched only a few minutes ago. I’m sorry Jaime.”

 

Jaime began to well tears, “Thanks for trying to get him back for me.” he aimed towards Barry.

 

He armored up and began flying away his limbs dangling in disappointment.

 

Not too long after Jaime had left, a nervous Bart showed up at the Allen’s front door.

 

Barry and Iris answered the door expecting to see Jaime but they were overjoyed to see Bart.

 

Barry picked Bart up in a hug at super speed and Iris joined as quickly as he could.

 

“What are you doing back?” Barry exclaimed, grandfatherly love lacing his tone.

 

“I changed my mind. I couldn’t go through with it. The more I thought about being away from you guys and Jaime, the more moded I became.” Bart said knowing in his mind it was Jaime he was going to miss the most. He continued, “They were able to find a replacement for me from a few other candidates who volunteered. That didn’t go without a stern lecture regarding being sure of my choices from Nightwing though who had to call in last minute favors to make the swap happen. But I am here to stay!” Bart said his emotions changing for each line of his explanation.

 

“It’s so good to have you back!” Iris exclaimed kissing his head.

 

“Ooh Bart! You need to go visit Jaime now! Go go go!” she said as she ushered Bart away gesturing for him to run.

 

“What? Why?” Bart said slightly confused and startled by how quickly his family was trying to get rid of him after he had just returned.

 

“Trust us Bart. You need to go see Jaime right now!” Barry said reinforcing Iris’s statement.

 

“Okay?” Bart cautioned.

 

“GO!” they both yelled in perfect synchronization as they laughed in excitement knowing what was coming Bart’s way.

 

Bart took one last second before dashing over to Jaime’s house to speak to him.

 

Back at Jaime’s house, he had noticed something on his pillow after entering his room and not bothering to turn on the light. He felt the darkness matched his mood. He had to detour to turn the light back on when he realized there was a note on his pillow.

 

He knew it was from before even opening it.

 

It read, “Hi Jaime, I am sorry for not telling you this in person, but I wouldn’t have been able to hold it together if I did. I have decided to go on that mission. It has occurred to me that I am an adult now and that my family can get by just fine without me. I also know you will miss me too, but I am sure you will find someone else to chill-hang with.”

 

Jaime let a tear drop directly from his eye onto the letter. The paper absorbed the tear and blurred a few of the inked words he had just read.

 

He kept reading, “Maybe that person might even be that special someone, the one who makes you truly happy.”

 

“But you make me truly happy…” Jaime whispered as he struggled to read on through his tear filled eyes.

 

“I thought I could make just friends work but I wasn’t strong enough. I guess I need that space after all. I’m gonna miss you Blue. Love Bart.”

 

Jaime put the letter down and started crying. He wanted nothing more than to be close to Bart in this moment. He remembered that he still had Bart’s torn suit sitting directly underneath him on the bed. He reached leaned over and searched around with his hand until he felt the tell tale material. He pulled it out and laid it across his lap just looking at it. He tried to imagine the empty suit filled with the real Bart.

 

Jaime heard a soft knock at the door.

 

“Go away ma!” Jaime said with a wobbly voice.

 

Bart could tell Jaime was crying. He opened the door and slipped through to see Jaime holding his torn costume.

 

“It’s me.”

 

“Bart?” Jaime said looking up at the familiar voice with confusion.

 

Jaime wasted no time running over to Bart to hug him. Bart gladly hugged him back.

 

“What are you doing- How are you still here?” Jaime wavered confused.

 

“I couldn’t leave. The thought of being away from you for that long was more painful then just being your friend and only your friend. I know you don’t have feelings for me but- mnf!”

 

Jaime had shut up Bart by kissing him unexpectedly.

 

“Jaime you just kissed me?” Bart said with shock putting his fingers on his soft lips.

 

“I know.” Jaime said softly.

 

“I mean, I’m not complaining but why?” Bart ogled.

 

“I realized my scarab was malfunctioning because I was repressing feelings for you. They were so strong my subconscious was disrupting Khaji Da’s ability to function on me as a host. But yeh, I know now that I have feelings for you Bart.”

 

“You do?” Bart said as his lips grew into a smile.

 

“Yup!”

 

“That’s the crashest thing ever!” Bart squeaked.

 

“No, you are.” Jaime said kissing him again with a grin.

 

Bart began to vibrate with excitement.

 

“This is the best day of my life!” he said jumping on Jaime knocking them both over on to the floor narrowly missing the bed. They hit the ground with a thud. They both laughed.

 

“I can’t believe you came back for me.” Jaime said staring intensely at Bart. Jaime was referring to both the first time all those years ago and just now.

 

“Well… I love you.” Bart said without hesitation.

 

“I love you too.” Jaime said.

 

It was the first time Bart had ever heard Jaime said it. Bart smiled. His smile captured the pure essence of happiness. Jaime never wanted to stop seeing that smile. It was breath-taking seeing such pure joy. Jaime was smiling too. Before Jaime got any deeper lost in thoughts about how happy he was, Bart suddenly whipped his phone out of his pocket and snapped a photo of them. Jaime was smirking and Bart was grinning like an idiot but it was a beautiful photo.

 

“Sorry! I just never want to forget this!” Bart said giggling a little.

 

“I won’t let you.” Jaime said pulling him down for another kiss. The most passionate one yet.

**Author's Note:**

> I sincerely apologize if there are any spelling or grammatical mistakes in my work. Feel free to copy and paste the excerpt and I will try to get around to fixing it.


End file.
